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Senior assistant to Iraqi Kurdistan’s President Masoud Barzani, Hemin Hawrami, responded to the comments of Iraq’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari who rejected a Kurdish referendum for independence. Hawrami said that Iraq’s failure has created ISIS and millions of internally displaced people (IDPs).

Iraqi foreign minister has told Middle East Eye that the Kurdish referendum planned on 25 September “will spread fear not just in Iraq but also in all these countries where Kurdish communities exist… Iran, Turkey, Syria and in Russia as well.”

Jaafari also suggested Kurdish secession was unnecessary, given the political deal enjoyed by the Kurdistan Regional Government inside a federal Iraq.

“They have ministers and they take from the central federal budget more than what the United Nations has allocated to them: the UN has allocated 13 per cent from the federal budget in Baghdad to the Kurds, now they take 17 per cent,” he said.

However, Hawrami told ARA News in an interview that is not true.

“Since February 2014, Iraq has cut our [Kurdistan Region’s] budget, and we have been dealing with 1.8 million IDPs and refugees, and Iraq’s participation and support was zero,” Hawrami told ARA News.

“Even during the Mosul operation, we have treated 37,000 wounded Iraqi soldiers in our hospitals. Baghdad’s facilitation and medical support was zero,” he said.

“I think Kurdistan survive, and an independent Kurdistan will be a stronger Kurdistan in terms of economy as well and with that stronger economy we can build a stronger army and we can be a reliable partner for regional national peace and security,” he said about Kurdish independence, adding that Kurdistan will remain a partner of Iraq in the fight against ISIS.

Moreover, the Kurds are worried about the future of Iraq after ISIS is defeated, with Mosul soon to be liberated.

“Who is going to reconstruct this area, who is going to solve flash point of the situation,” there senior Kurdish official said in an exclusive interview with ARA News on Friday.

“Who is going to prevent Daash No. 2 to come back to that areas? Because Daash was the symptom of the failed governance in Iraq,” Hawrami said.

“Unfortunately the environment that has created ISIS, those environment has not been addressed. ISIS has been psychically defeated, but virtually they have not been defeated, their ideology have not been bombed, because through bombs their ideology cannot be defeated,” he added.

“That’s why we are concerned in the post-ISIS Iraq with the divisions within the Sunnis, within the Shiites, and between Sunnis and Shiites, and also creation of a parallel force to the Iraqi army units. These are all forces that make reverse more possible, then progress in post-ISIS Mosul,” he concluded.